In the very first level of Super Mario 64, Mario has to get to the summit of the mountain of Bob-omb Battlefield to fight the Big Bob-omb. To get to Big Bob-omb, Mario can take the path that starts from the first cannon in the level and leads up to the mountain summit. There are several obstacles and enemies on his way, including Goombas, a Chain Chomp, water bombs, and Big Steelies which roll down the path. Upon reaching the summit, Mario is confronted by the Big Bob-omb. Mario can defeat the Big Bob-omb by picking him up from behind and throwing him to the ground. When Mario misses and throws the Big Bob-omb from the summit plateau, he will come back claiming Mario cheated and Mario will have to start over again. Mario must throw him to the ground three times. Upon defeat, the Big Bob-omb releases a Power Star.

In Super Mario 64 DS, the battle is changed. Yoshi is the only character available at the beginning of the game, so the Big Bob-omb will throw Bob-ombs at Yoshi. As such, Yoshi has to grab a Bob-omb with his mouth and throw it at the Big Bob-omb, before the Bob-omb explodes in Yoshi's mouth.

For the second Power Star of the level, Mario has to race Koopa the Quick. Mario has to reach the flagpole at the summit of the mountain before Koopa the Quick does. However, just like when racing the Big Penguin in Cool, Cool, Mountain, the player cannot cheat; using one of the Cannons scattered across Bob-omb Battlefield will make Koopa The Quick refuse to give away the star. However, players are allowed to use any other shortcuts to reach the finish point.

This mission is pretty much the same in Super Mario 64 DS. However, there is a slight change. Koopa The Quick will only want to race against Mario himself. Since Yoshi is the only character available at the time, Yoshi must take a Mario Cap and then race against Koopa The Quick. If Yoshi loses the cap during the race, Koopa The Quick will wonder where Mario is and won't relinquish the Star. If the player regains their Mario Cap and wins the race, Koopa the Quick will act like Yoshi lost. A very useful shortcut in both versions is, before the race starts, the player steps on the switch that opens the gate, and then goes through the it during the race.

In the original Super Mario 64, the third Power Star of Bob-omb Battefield is found in a ! Block on a floating "island", which is floating near the big mountain. In order to get it, Mario first has to talk to the Bob-omb Buddies at the beginning of the level to open the cannons. When the player blasts off to the floating island, it is possible to go over the island if aimed incorrectly when fired and land on top of the mountain. If the player manages to reach the island, they need to break the mystery block on the floating island to grab the Power Star that comes out of it.

In Super Mario 64 DS, the player, who can play this mission with any character, has to find the five Silver Stars which are scattered throughout the battlefield. This is the only mission where the Chain Chomp is running loose on the battlefield. The locations of the Silver Stars are:

The player has to fight the Big Bob-omb a second time, but only this time with a character other than Yoshi, because in this battle, there are no projectiles to throw. To get the Power Star, Mario, Luigi or Wario has to do the same objective as Star 1 in the N64 version. However, if the player throws the Big Bob-omb off the mountain, he accuses the player of cheating. Once Big Bob-omb is thrown three times, the Power Star will appear.

For this mission, Mario has to fly through five rings of coins in the air using the Wing Cap and collect all five middle coins of the rings to make the Power Star appear. Taking off from the floating island, he has to use the Wing Cap and shoot himself from a cannon to have enough speed to hit all the rings, as well as being able to fly upwards. The Power Star appears in the meadow near the Star Marker. It is also possible to use the cannon on its own to go through all the rings.

The sixth Power Star of Bob-omb Battlefield is located behind iron bars near the Chain Chomp. To get it, Mario first has to free the Chain Chomp by Ground Pounding its pole three times. Freed, it will destroy the iron bars and Mario will be able to get the star. A glitch is to hold a Bob-omb near the bars and wait for it to explode. The force of the explosion will push Mario inside the gate.

The star in Super Mario 64 DS can be gotten in the same way. However, there are several alternatives to getting the star normally, such as using Vanish Luigi to phase through the bars, ground-pounding the stake a single time as Wario, or collecting the star during the third mission (since the Chain Chomp has been moved to the adjacent field). Additionally, in the original game, a higher jump is required to collect the star, since it is too high to collect with a normal one; in the DS version this has been changed so that a normal jump may be used.

"Wow! You're smack in the middle of the battlefield. You'll find the Power Stars that Bowser stole inside the painting walls. First, talk to the Bob-omb Buddy (Press to talk.) He'll certainly help you out, and so will his comrades in other areas. To read signs, stop, face them and press . Press or to scroll ahead. You can talk to some other characters by facing them and pressing ."

Upon entering the course in the DS version:

"Chasing Mario led you smack in the middle of the battlefield. Where's Mario? First talk to the Bob-omb Buddy. In Standard Mode, you can do this by pressing . He'll certainly help you out."